Peggy Martin Rose April 26, 2021

 Peggy Martin looked pretty on the 26th, but I almost took more pictures because on the 29th the arbor was even more beautiful.  The canes are thornless and very pliable, so very easy to train.  And she sends out so many canes you should not be hesitant to just cut the ones going in the wrong direction all the way to the mother cane and get rid of them. Also, they tip root. So you will have many babies to give away to fellow gardeners.

Week at the Farm April 25 - 29, 2021

 

This is Climbing Pinkie.  

Arrived Sunday about noon after Airbnb guests left.

• I had a bunch of plants with me, so  spent the afternoon putting some of them in the ground.  
• The bed at the far end of the Rose Garden has not had much in it.  Last fall I planted a powderpuff shrub and a peacock shrub in there.  But the hard freeze did them in.  That's okay.  I always thought I should have planted a rose in there since it is a rose garden.  So I planted a Gaye Hammond rose. 
• I also planted 4 Heliopsis plants in that bed.  I added lots of molasses, lava rock and green sand to all the plantings.  And I also stuck in a few yellow Profusion zinnias, low-growing zinnias just for a little bedding plant color.  The Heliopsis plants are pretty cool.  They have dark red stems and they are excellent mid and late summer bloomers.  
• I planted 2 Fruity Pebbles Lantana in the bed around the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.
• And I stuck a couple of red profusion zinnias in one of the beds in the Rose Garden.
• And I stuck a couple of Giant Milkweed Calotropis procera in the Rose Garden beds as well.  
• Last week when I was here for a quick trip, I sowed some zinnia seeds in the Rose Garden.  They have all popped up.  Little by little I have been thinning them out since I threw lots of seed down.
• I watered here and there in the Rose Garden, Star Garden, and Greenhouse Gardens.
• I planted a Pink Buttons Polygonum next to the two Creeping Jenny plants next to the Greenhouse.  It might not get enough sun there, but so be it.  So, that is 3 ground cover plants there, maybe that will solve that problem area.  The white potato vine that grew on a goat wire arbor over the Greenhouse entrance never came back.  It had been there (evergreen) since the Greenhouse was built, about a decade.  But looks like the February freeze did it in.  I'm kinf od sad about that.
• Everything looks so beautiful right now.  I am enthralled.  Not too lush and overgrown, just perfect.
• Monday.  Worked.
• I sprayed a bit of herbicide here and there in the morning before work.  And I watered in a few spots.
•  Planted a pink Mandavilla vine on the little trellis in the Star Garden.  It was really small, so it was really inexpensive.  It won't survive the winter - not perennial, but such a good price that I bought it.  I like to change the things that grow on that little trellis each year,
• I sowed Heavenly Blue morning glory seeds on the conveyor belt where the yellow butterfly vine was. Although hope is fading fast, I am still hoping the butterfly vine will come back.  But in case it does not, something will twine up that tall structure.
• I sowed the other half of the morning glory packet on one leg of the arbor at the Rose Garden entrance.
• I cut two large, low branches off one my Mexican Buckeye in my mom's garden so that my crinums would get more room and more light.
• I erected 3 or so more chicken wire barriers to keep plants from flopping over. 
• After work I did some more chicken wire barriers.
• I did some weeding.
• I planted another Giant Milkweed in the Rose Garden. 
• I planted an unusual milkweed called Pineleaf Milkweed in the Star Garden.  We'll see how it does.  I crowded it in one of the beds and pulled up all the ageratum around it to give it a fighting chance.  Ageratum wants to be everywhere.
• I planted some of the Nicotiana in the Long Border that I sowed in little pots and have been maniacally protecting for about 3 months.  Surrounded them with chicken wire.  I don't know if I mentioned in a previous post that I planted 8 Nicotiana plants in the Medicine Garden, each one surrounded by chicken wire.  The chicken wire is to protect them from armadillo destruction, but also because Nicotiana is very unruly and floppy.  The Nicotiana that I sowed is some sort of Alata that I bought off of Ebay.  I was also gifted 3 Indian Peace Pipe Nicotiana from Ann Thames, and I planted them in my mom's garden.  They are large beautiful specimens.  She knows how to not crowd plants, a skill I either never learned or can't prevent myself from doing.
• I walked the Meadow which I have been doing frequently because plant height is still low enough that I can see the ground and watch for snakes as I walk. 
• I pulled up some parsnips from the garden and ate them for dinner.  I cut them up and browned them in a little olive oil and butter.  I love parsnips.  
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• At lunch I did some weeding in the Star Garden.
• I worked on the Boardwalk Gardens for a while.  I cleaned up the dead ginger vegetation.  I yanked up lots of Mexicali Rose growing in the wrong spots.  And I pulled up lots of dandelions.
• I weeded in the Orchard for a long time.  At one point I was weeding underneath some blackberry canes and glanced up into the greenery.  Copperhead coiled up sitting in the crook of two canes.  Well, at least I know ahead of time what my nightmares will be for the next couple of weeks.  I called Bert down to the Orchard, and he shot it. I pulled weeds for a while longer, but that was enough to take the wind out of my sails.
• I decided to pull down the unsightly scarecrow that is down there in the Orchard. Removing that thing has been a long time in coming.  Since it was constructed on two iron tree stakes I had to tear apart the sleeves, cut away the hat, tear off the shirt, and do some general yanking on it.  I began tearing away at the pants and all of a sudden - here is a huge bumble bee.  It started coming after me.  I didn't know if there was a nest in the pants or the boots or it was a complete coincidence, and I didn't wait around to find out.  I ran as fast as I could up the hill to the house with the bee chasing me.  I was screaming and waving my arms around.  I'm sure it was a sight to see.  I didn't get stung.  The stings only hurt briefly, but the swelling and itching afterwards is awful.  I'll do anything to avoid bee and wasp stings.  By the time I got to the top of the hill I was huffing and puffing.  Whew!  I am not in good shape.  Bert ended up going down there and setting fire to the remaining scarecrow - good idea, I should have set fire to the whole thing in the first place.  No bee nest, but the way.  I guess I just got spooked by the copperhead sighting.
• After work I did more chicken wire staking.  I sowed several packets of Moonflower in mom's garden.  I had left them soaking in water for several days to make sure I got good germination.  They are not reliable germinators unless you soak them a long, long time in water.
• I trimmed dead branches off my Noisette in the Rose Garden.  There was a cardinal in the rose shrub sitting on eggs, so I didn't want to disturb her.  But with all the activity from the Crawfish Boil and my activity in there every day, the pair ultimately abandoned the nest.
• I planted a yellow lantana in the front bed.  I thought the one that was there before was dead, but I noticed a tiny bit of green when I was in there. Some things are still coming back, but very very slowly. 
• I went through the Rose Garden sowing zinnia seeds everywhere I found an empty spot of soil.  I also did a little of that, but on a smaller scale, in the Star Garden.  The Star Garden has so much blue salvia now that I don't need to relay on zinnias as heavily.  At any rate, I am waiting on the brown eyed Susans to bloom.  They take up all the room in the Star Garden right now.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• Amy Thomsen stopped by to borrow my Ecolab paperwork so she could review it.  I drove her around the property and she identified a few trees for me. One was an elm that I always thought was a cottonwood.  And one tree that I have never identified and always wondered what it was - a winged elm.  Next we drove down Sandtown road where she had spotted some Coral Honeysuckle growing up some trees in the bramble. I already have some Coral Honeysuckle growing on an arbor at the entrance to the Star Garden (which I bought at Buchanan's Nursery last year, but I went with her.  The adventure sounded fun.  We each (with a lot of effort) dug up some of the honeysuckle and brought our treasures home.  She gathered some mulberries off my wild mulberry tree to plant at various places on her property.  She has a mulberry on her property, but it is a male.  I have several of both.  She headed home.  
• I'm very worried I might have gotten into some poison ivy while I was doing honeysuckle gathering that because by Thursday morning I started to get itchy.  Om the other hand, I am staying out until dark every night working and walking the property, so perhaps I'm just covered in horsefly, ant, and mosquito bites.  A little bit more time will reveal the answer.
• After work I walked the Meadow again.   I'm seeing lots of good grasses - yay!
• I planted the last Heliopsis in the bed around the old dead tree in the Roe Garden.  I see a Heliopsis that I planted last year is dying.  I felt around and can feel a vole hole next to it.  I will move it on Thursday to try and save it.
• I planted a Balmy Pink monarda in the Rose Garden.  I love bee balm.
• I turned over a section of bed in the Vegetable Garden and added some soil amendments so that Bert could plant his plant.  That is his little section of garden.  While I was there I cut away plants leaning into paths and stakes a few things.
• Watered in the Rose Garden. 
• I planted the larger Coral Honeysuckle in the arbor box on the arbor in the Rose Garden.  I had also dug up a tiny one, so I planted it on the mattress spring wrapped around the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.  I haven't seen any sign of my Coral vine coming back.  But again, maybe it is still too early.
• I fertilized all my roses in the Rose Garden.  We are supposed get some really good rain this weekend, so now is the time.  
• Did some more staking.  I have used every last scintch of chicken wire I have.  When I return on my next trip, probably on Sunday, I will bring more.  Blake and her girlfriends are going to be here Friday through Sunday.  And next weekend the place is rented.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• In the morning, I spread the rest of the bag of fertilizer over all my roses in the Star Garden and front beds.  And I hit my altheas and other large plants as well.
• I dug up my Heliopsis that looked like it was under siege from voles and moved it to another bed.
• Headed back to Houston in the evening after work.

Sweetspire April 27, 221

 From afar this shrub is not very impressive-looking.  It's actually lots of stems coming straight out of the ground from underground runners, it does not have a single trunk.  But at this time of year it blooms, and it is a good bee attractor.  Up close the flowers are quite pretty.  Warning - it can become a nuisance.  I have some growing in the Shade Garden, the Circle Drive, and along the Boardwalk.  It spreads and spreads and spreads.  Pulling it up is difficult because of the underground runners.  But all in all, if you have it in a place where spreading is no problem, or where a lawn mower can mow it down where you don't want it - perfect.

Veilchenblau Rose April 27, 2021

 I have this once-blooming climber trained on an old mattress bed spring attached to the arbor at the front of the Rose Garden.  It looked really pretty this morning.

Siberian Iris April 27, 2021

 The 3 pictures below are of Jaybird.  I just happen to remember the name of that one because it was the first Siberian iris that I ever bought.  After that I bought lots of Siberian iris, but very few of them made it.  Not enough water in the beginning.  The next 3 pictures are of another one I bought, can't remember the name since it was one of a dozen I purchased.  It is a deeper color purple, and the flower form is more narrow than Jaybird.  The clump is not as substantial as Jaybird because it is about 2 years younger.  And the last picture is another variety.  Too bad none of the white varieties I purchased seem to have made it.  Like bearded iris, the Siberian iris come in some wonderful color combinations.  I had one of my best years ever with my beardeds, maybe they liked that super cold snap in February.  But I think I'm going to get more reliable blooming from the Siberian iris over time.   

Week at the Farm April 12 - 18, 2021

• Vacation the week before the annual crawfish boil.
• Monday.  I cut back the rest of the Holly Fern clumps in the Shade Garden.  Always wary - all the dead vegetation provides good hiding spots for snakes.  I also cleaned up the paths alongside of the Sweetspire.  It spreads by underground runners into the paths.  Sprayed some herbicide to get rid of the zillions of tiny snakeroot sprouts.
• Sprayed herbicide here and there.  I don't like this herbicide, I don't think it is nearly as effective as what I used to use.
• I spent a good part of the day pulling up all the spent Purple Phacelia throughout all the gardens.
• Weeded, weeded, weeded.
• I spread decomposed granite throughout the Rose Garden, trying to get rid of the remaining pile before the party.
• I watered in the Rose Garden throughout the day.
• Bert went to Leroy Shroeders and bought a a yard and a half of mulch, so I spread mulch in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden.
• Watered all the pots around the pool and in the Star Garden.
• Watered in the Greenhouse Gardens.
• I spent some time in the Medicine Garden pulling up Horsetail reed and elderberry growing in the wrong spots.
• Tuesday.  I used chicken wire panels and bamboo sticks and erected little walls to keep plants from flopping over.  This was a very good task, I get a pat on the back for this one.  I am staking BEFORE the plants fall over.  I did lots of them in the Rose Garden, the Star Garden, and the Orchard. That will be really helpful soon because everything is just about to explode.
• I did lots of weeding around my large plants - salvias, giant rudbeckia, white mist flower, altheas, and roses.  I don't want my large plants to get crowded out.
• I did some more spreading of decomposed granite, again in the Rose Garden.  I pulled up lots of Homestead Purple Verbena in the beds in the Rose Garden and threw it away (which is a heart-breaker, but I didn't have the time to find a new home for it).  I spread decomposed granite over the disturbed areas.
• I finished mulching mom's garden.  That took some time because I had to do a lot of it by hand since many of the plants are still so tiny.
• I planted 10 or so little Dahlberg Daisies in the Rose Garden.
• I weeded a bit in the Vegetable Garden, but it is in pretty good shape right now, so not much required.  I cut away flowers that were crowding the vegetables.
• Wednesday.  More of the same work.  Did some raking.  Cleaned up all my piles of debris.  Weeded, weeded, weeded.
• I worked in the Dining Room flower bed pulling weeds and cutting back the little snow rose shrubs.
• Bert cut down the Harlequin Glorybower tree in the Star Garden that died.
• Thursday.  Our new refrigerator was delivered.  I cooked all day for the party.  No gardening was done.
• Friday.  Cooked all day.
• Saturday.  Crawfish Boil party.  We had an excellent turnout.  I guess people really wanted to get out of their houses and just not be alone!

Bearded Iris April 12, 2021

 This is the best year I've ever had with my bearded iris.  They are blooming so beautifully.

Quick Trip to the Farm March 31 - April 1, 2021

 

Pretty Red Buckeye flower.

Wednesday.  Arrived during the lunch hour and worked the rest of the day.  One Airbnb group left on Wednesday and the next arrives on Friday.  We are getting pretty burnt out on it and have closed off the remaining open weekends in the spring and summer.  Especially with my return to work full time, we have lost all our flexibility.

After work I planted 8 Mojito Colocasia along the Boardwalk.  I prepped the soil, which is really clayish, with lots leaf mold compost and peat moss.  Mojito Colocasias want rich soil or they will disappear after about the third season.  

The Boardwalk Gardens need lots of work / attention.  They need a good thick layer of compost.  Those beds are wide and very, very long, all the way down the hill - maybe 200 feet on either side of the Boardwalk.  And the Boardwalk itself needs attention, some boards need to be replaced.  Add it to the list!

Still no sign of life in my 3 banana shrubs or my Harlequin Glorybower.  I won't miss my Harlequin Glorybower.  The flowers were never very showy and, due to being a short-lived small tree / large shrub, it was going downhill each year.  I would have gotten rid of it already, but it is a lot to deal with to cut it down and dispose of it.  I won't put in anything that large when I get around to replacing it because it blocks the view into the Star Garden.  The butterflies did love the flowers, though.  I see I have a seedling in that bed, and perhaps I will dig it up and plant it somewhere.

The mustang grape vine on the Vegetable Garden fence is definitely a female.  I love the idea of a grape vine growing there where I can easily pick my own grapes for jelly-making, and it so easy to reach.  No more climbing on ladders to reach grapes.  I have a feeling the new neighbors will tear down the grape vine growing on their fence (because they have a lot of money) in order to build a fancy entrance.  That was my go-to grape vine in the past for grape picking.

I noticed one of those thrilling step changes in growth in all the gardens when we arrived.  We had been gone since Thursday of last week, and everything is up several inches.  The Ox Eye daisies and Giant Rudbeckia and poppies are in bud.  Some of the roses look very healthy.  Others are still puny.  I am still surprised how impacted the roses were by the big freeze in February.  They didn't die, but most of the roses are not coming back on the existing canes, they are coming up from the ground. 

Thursday.  Up at 4:30, headache and couldn't sleep.  Waited for day light so I could beat the breeze and spray some herbicide on paths.  

Sprayed herbicide in the Star Garden.

Watered all the pots around the pool and in the Medicine Garden.

I cut away flowers in the Vegetable Garden that were encroaching on vegetables.

I planted 200 Candida rain lilies in Mom's Garden.

Watered all the pots in the Star Garden.

Watered the dry parts of Mom's Garden.  

Moved the sprinklers in the Greenhouse Garden.

Sprayed herbicide in the Rose Garden.

I went down to the Orchard to water the new peach tree and the fig.  The fig is completely dead all the way to ground level!  I can't believe it.  Heartbreak.  I can see it is coming up from the roots, and I think it is not grafted - I will have look closer but I was too sad to do it.  So many times I thought - I should go down to the Orchard and water the fig tree - and I didn't do it.

Headed home to Houston.

I made asparagus soup from the asparagus in our garden.  Very delicious and easy.